Tobacco board eyes Gulf for exports.

GUNTUR: With the Middle East slowly emerging as a key player for tobacco exports, the Indian Tobacco Board has launched a serious effort to showcase the Indian products on the global forum.

While the exports from India to the Middle East are constant at around 5% of the total exports in the last few years, the board wants it to make it a double digit figure. Interestingly, the board's maiden attempt to attract trade enquiries from nations like Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran and Greece yielded the results as big names from these countries held negotiations with the Indian merchants at the global tobacco expo that began in Dubai on Monday.

For the first time, the tobacco board has set up an exclusive outlet at the event facilitating the Indian merchants to expand their business horizons in the Middle East. Indian consul general in Dubai Sanjay Verma, while opening the board's stall, observed that it was really a good move to market Indian products on the global platform. "Our exports to the Middle East have been around just Rs 100-Rs110 crore of the total Rs 3000 crore exports from India. Since there are good number of big players in these countries, we have bright chances of increasing exports," board chairman Kamalavardhan Rao told TOI over phone from Dubai.

He said that attracting visitors who are seriously involved in the tobacco looks possible by setting up the stall at the global meet. While European countries take the lion's share of imports from India by accounting for nearly 50 per cent of the total products, Africa and America are next leaders in importing leaf and manufactured tobacco products from India. The tobacco board chief strongly believes that there is good potential in the Middle East to export Indian products provided good merchant-to-merchant contacts are established.

Sources said that leading exporters from the Indian market like Mittapalli Umamaheswara Rao, Tadisetty Muralimohan and representatives of Bommidala Enterprises, Tejaram Dharampal , Sopariwala and Empire Tobacco attended the world meet.

The exports from India to the Middle East are constant at around 5% of the total exports in the last few years, the board wants it to make it a double digit figure.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com